Why Government Tech Is So Poor

Fixing Procurement Process Is Key to Preventing Blunders Like Healthcare.gov

By

Farhad Manjoo

Oct. 16, 2013 6:16 p.m. ET

Just before Healthcare.gov hobbled online, Kathleen Sebelius, secretary of health and human services, compared the federal health-care exchange to her iPad's new operating system.

If users found a few bugs in their iPads, she argued, most wouldn't consider them a complete disaster. Instead, they would recognize that technology is complicated, that errors are common, and they would wait for an update. Apple Inc., she added, has "a...